Traitor
by Bookworm Gal
Summary: Traitors have to be dealt with. Or else they could continue to hurt those around them. Justice must be served. But when does justice become revenge? Revenge can darken and pollute those who seek it. Revenge against traitors can destroy all, good and bad.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, this has nothing to do with my other digimon stories what so ever. There is no connection to "Destiny" or "Fate." This was just a little idea that popped into my head one day and wouldn't leave. Because it is not one of my main stories, it will be updated fairly slowly. Still, I had to put it out there. It is set after season three ends. Enjoy.**

Pain coursed through his body in various degrees of agony. Various cuts and bruises riddled his entire body randomly, with the slash across his back being the worse of those so far. His chest ached deeply and he winced strongly every time he took a deep breath. His arms were useless. Well, one was completely useless, unmoving to his efforts. That one was where he was dangled from like a ragdoll, held in a crushing grip. The other arm, his left, was a little better. He could move his shoulder, but it was a rather bad idea. It looked like he had gained a second elbow as his arm bent unnatural angles. Something was broken and he had to fight the urge to blackout every time it moved. He was a real mess.

One of the causes of his current condition was holding him aloft. There were three of them. Three megas. A data, a virus, and a vaccine. All three had reduced him to this state. He had started out fighting them as Beelzemon, but he had been outnumbered and was beaten down. Now, he was a helpless rookie. If they were trying to kill him, he'd already be dead. No, they still wanted answers. Their continuous attacks were designed not to destroy him quickly, but to cause him to suffer so he would break down and tell them what they wanted.

He might have expected some mercy from her. After all, she wasn't the type who took pleasure in torture for its own sake. She was more likely to give a quick merciful death if one was needed. Or she might even give a second chance, if she felt there was a slight chance... But circumstances had made her hard. Any real kindness or concern for the lives of others was canceled out by the current desire for revenge.

The virus type was especially cruel though. His yellowish eyes burned with such anger and hatred, Impmon could almost feel it like a physical force. The rookie vaguely wondered if the mega even cared about anything anymore except to see the purple creature in pain. He was the one holding him by his arm. He was the one who had snapped his arm like a twig.

The data glared into his emerald eyes. This one was addressing him most of the time. The voice, whenever it asked the same question of him, was always neutral. It was a distant sound, devoid of any pity or anger. It was simply matter of fact, as if its owner couldn't care less about the fate of Impmon.

"Traitor, I'll ask once more. Where is she?"

Where is she? The same question that they want the answer to since they found him. They want to find her. Jeri. They want to know where Jeri is. Such a simple question and he knew the answer. But they would never get it. He couldn't tell them. It would be too awful if they did. If they... No, he couldn't think about it.

Taking a painful breath and wincing as he did, he gasped out his response, "It's… my… it's my… my fault. She… she…"

His words were met with another strike from the virus mega, knocking the air out of his sore chest and causing his broken arm to jerk in an agonizingly movement. He let out a breathless groan. The virus leaned close then.

"I swear," he hissed, "I'll see you punished for what you have done. And we will find her. We won't stop until we do."

He wanted to answer, he wanted to say something to those hate-filled eyes, but he couldn't. The rookie was too tired and too hurt to think of a comeback. He just closed his emerald eyes, wondering how things had gone so wrong.

**Be warned, things are not always what they seem. There is more to this than you think. But I do want to know what you think. And, yes, the other chapters will be longer. This is more of a taste of what is to come. Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, wondering what in the world is going on yet? Want to know? I guess I can give you some relief from your curiosity. I hope you like this story.**

The nightmarish day had begun fairly normally. After seeing his tamers were up and alright (and snagging some breakfast), the purple rookie headed for the park. He loved to scare people still, but had cut back somewhat. He felt like visiting with ol' Pineapple-head and seeing what he was up to.

The red reptile was sniffing around in his hideout, likely looking for buried bread. Why that guy preferred to dig up his dirt-covered food at a later time instead of eating it at the time Goggle-head brought it, he'd never know. He grinned to himself, considering the idea of startling the rookie. His position in the tree hid him easily from view. Impmon prepared a fireball and…

"Hi Impmon," cried a voice suddenly.

Struggling not to fall from his perch in surprise, he grabbed hold of a tree branch. Glancing around, he spotted the floating white shape of Calumon beside him.

"Creampuff, don't do that," he snapped grumpily. "You're acting too much like Fox-face when you do."

"Sorry," the tiny digimon murmured, looking depressed. "I just wanted to ask you to play."

The rookie sighed, wondering why he had gone so soft. "It's alright. Just try not to give me a heart attack."

"Hi Impmon," called Guilmon, the dinosaur having noticed the pair's exchange. "Hi Calumon."

"Hey Pineapple-head, anything interesting going on?" Impmon asked, his earlier plans of chaos discarded now that his presence was known.

The red rookie scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Takato said he was going to go see Jeri and both will be coming to see me later. And they're bringing bread with peanut butter!"

The small green-eyed virus considered this news. Guilmon, of course, was more focused on the food, but Impmon was more worried about the fact Jeri was coming by. Ever since he had returned to the human world, he had avoided the girl as much as possible. Even at Rika's party (which had some fairly good food), he tried to not interact with her too much. She might have forgiven him for his past actions, but he didn't feel right to be around her too much. No reason to remind her of his existence and what that meant. The purple digimon would just have to make himself scarce when she arrived.

"Guilmon, do you want to play?" Calumon practically begged. "Please?"

The reptilian creature smiled cheerfully in response. But then, an odd sensation in the air changed the entire mood of the trio. Guilmon began growling ferally. Calumon's ears contracted with worry. Impmon stiffened and turned his head. An all too familiar sense of alarm was felt by the three as their instincts cried out in warning of what was coming.

A Bioemergence.

* * *

"Sir, something's coming," Riley reported, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "I… I can't get anything near it. Not even a tracer."

"How powerful are we talking about?" asked Yamaki, his lighter flicking at a steady pace.

"Extrememly," she answered worriedly. "This thing blows the Devas out of the water. And…"

The blond man glanced at the technician, "And what?"

"It's not alone. And they'll be in the park in less than a minute."

* * *

Rather than run away from the coming entity (the smart thing to do), they ran towards it. Luckily, the digimon seemed to be arriving in a less frequently visited part of the park. Impmon kept wondering what was going to appear, but he could reach the mega level on his own, so he held few concerns. Guilmon would only be effective if it was fairly weak or if Goggle-head showed up soon. Calumon's continued presence was a mystery, but he was following anyway.

The heavy fog hung over a clearing. Inside, there would be few trees to hide behind, but that could be good or bad. As they entered, the purple rookie shifted to his more powerful form. The dark mega ran his emerald eyes across the misty landscape, trying to spot the new arrival before it could spot him. A noise beside him was becoming extremely distracting.

"Pineapple-head, could you stop growling?" he requested. "You're giving me a headache."

"That voice. I know that voice," someone hissed. "It belongs to a killer. He killed most of my hive. I must kill him."

"Calm yourself," another voice instructed, this one female. "We have come for a specific purpose. We are seeking only one traitor, not all that have ever done wrong. The traitor threatened two whole worlds and caused innumerable deaths. That is who we seek."

"These digimon must know of who we search," yet another suggested, the third one so far. His voice was calm and low. "And since all were threatened by the traitor's actions, perhaps they will assist our efforts to gain justice for the lives lost."

Three voices. Three separate speakers. This wasn't just some random wild one. It was a hunting party.

"Mind showing yourself or do we have to play hide and seek?" Beelzemon growled, glancing at Calumon to ensure the tiny being didn't suggest that he liked playing.

"Very well," answered the second voice. "I am Magnadramon."

Above the three flew a pink dragon-like digimon. Her graceful appearance did not hide her dangerous potential. She had long claws and horns. The large vaccine was a mega and a holy dragon. Those generally did not get along with those like Beelzemon. Still, they had a reputation of being fairly "good" digimon.

A figure stepped out of the deeper fog, his green skin imbedded with metal bolts. He looked like a creepy Frankenstein. If one ignored the giant ax in his hands, that is.

His voice, the third one, sounded calm. "I am Boltmon."

"And I am Diaboromon," snarled the original speaker as he leapt into view. "But you should remember me. I certainly do you."

The long limbed creature with dark blue hands and face glared with yellow eyes at his fellow virus type. Beelzemon could vaguely recall running into a large number of Chysalimon when he first became a mega. It wasn't one of his proudest moments, him playing exterminator just for the sake of it.

"Interesting. A vaccine, a data, and a virus all show up in the park," observed the winged mega. "You said you're looking for something?"

He could hear Guilmon growling still beside him. Calumon held tight to the rookie's head. Neither of them trusted the newcomers. Beelzemon didn't either, but he wanted to keep them talking. Eventually, the others would show up and they could deal with the group together. But three megas on his own was suicide.

"Yes, we're looking for a traitor. A traitor against humans and digimon," explained Boltmon. "Someone who tried to destroy both worlds."

"Wow, sounds bad," stated Beelzemon. "So, do you know who you're looking for or are you just planning to start randomly blasting."

"We don't know her name, but we know her face," Diaboromon hissed venomously. "She allied herself with the ultimate enemy, the Chaos, and gave it more power to attack."

"She helped it to grow and change in this world and thus the half in the digital one became stronger too," continued the vaccine. "Because of her, more lives were lost. So we come to make things right. If she would betray two worlds, there is no room for her in either."

The dark mega wondered who this mystery "her" could be until the obviousness of it slapped him in the face. The only individual that even be considered to have "helped" the ultimate enemy, the Chaos, the D-reaper, would be the one who had already suffered the most. Jeri.

In the wrong light, some idiot could think that. From what Beelzemon had heard at different points, the heart-broken girl had gone willingly to the goo to begin with, not knowing what it was. It had simply promised to end the pain and suffering. The pain and suffering caused by the loss of her partner. Caused by the stupidity of a certain virus type.

That monstrous overgrown jell-o of doom had _fed_ off her. She hadn't known that her emotions were assisting the D-reaper, but Jeri still felt guilty about it now. He had seen her face, at a distance, whenever anyone brought up the pink goo.

It wasn't fair for her to blame herself for it. And there was no way in either world would he let anyone make her suffer again like he had. That girl had gone through enough. Besides, her involvement with the D-reaper hadn't started by her actions. It wasn't her fault she had been hurt.

It was his fault.

But these megas just saw a human who had helped the D-reaper, who had gone to it on her own free will. They wanted revenge. They would find her and "punish" her for whatever crimes they felt she had committed. And she wouldn't stand a chance alone.

Not going to happen.

"Pineapple-head, listen carefully," Beelzemon growled softly, his emerald eyes narrowing angrily at the trio. "You and the creampuff need to run. You need to get out of here."

"We can't leave you alone," argued Guilmon, but the mega interrupted.

"You have to find Goggle-head and Jeri. Get her as far as possible. They're after her." He eyed the reptile, seeing how torn he was about leaving him to face the trio of megas on his own. "Go!"

As the rookie took off, the dark-winged virus glared at the group. Beelzemon raised his weapon-covered arm.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but there is no way that you are going to do your fun 'little girl hunting trip.' In case you didn't know, crazed psycho rampages are frowned on around here," he snarled. "So, you'll leave her alone and I won't have to kick your sorry hides back to the digital world."

Diaboromon gave an evil grin, "You know her. You're defending her?" He chuckled softly. "That makes you just as great a traitor. You'd rather help her after all that destruction she caused than your own kind?"

"No, I just know it isn't her fault," snapped Beelzemon. "It's mine, really. And I've caused her enough problems that… She's not to blame."

"I saw her face, with those other children," Boltmon informed him. "I know that girl was taken into the Chaos. I heard that she even went willingly."

"It's all my fault. She is not to blame," he repeated. "And if you try to cause that child more pain, I have only one thing to say. Corona Blaster!"

**So, does this clear things up a little? Did I fool you with the last chapter. Tamara Caitlyn at least fell for it and thought that Guilmon, Renamon, and Terriermon went psycho on Impmon. That was what I wanted you to think. Like I said, updates will be slower on this story.**

**Oh, in case you don't remember, Boltmon is one of the megas digivolved by Calumon to fight the D-reaper with his "Shining Digivolution" thing. That's how he knew what Jeri looked like. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Like I said, these updates will have a lot of time in between them. Enjoy a new update.**

* * *

A red blur dashed out of the park, startling all that he encountered. Overhead, a white shape floated through the sky. Even if digimon were known to the public, the humans outside of the park were startled at their appearance. But they digital creature were unconcerned about their reactions. Even Calumon seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation.

The two digimon had a mission. They had to find Jeri. Fast. And Guilmon had to find his partner. He couldn't win alone. And neither could Beelzemon.

* * *

"So, Jeri…" began Takato awkwardly. "… How have you been lately?"

She smiled at him, her expression cheerful, "Good. Kind of boring since Rika's party. School, home, visiting you guys. Same old, same old."

"Things have been sort of quiet. There hasn't been any real action. No Bioemerges…" he started to babble, stopping as he realized she might not like being reminded she couldn't help against digimon anymore.

"Takato, I'm alright," she sighed, seeing his expression. "I'm alright. Don't treat me like I'll break. You're my friend and I don't want you afraid of hurting me."

The goggle-wearing youth blushed, "Sorry. We, all of us, just worry about you. Don't forget, we saw how much…" He stopped, but forced himself to continue after her earlier comment, "… how much you were hurt after you lost Leomon."

Her eyes darkened at the memory, causing him to regret his words, but she explained, "I was. For quite a while, but I let it consume me too long and too many problems were caused. I'll always miss him, but I have to go on with my life. Besides," she smiled slightly, "Calumon won't let me stay sad."

He laughed, thinking about the cheerful digimon. Suddenly, his D-arc started going off in alarm. The tamer yanked the device into view. A Bioemergence was underway.

The boy glanced at his companion, "Do you want to come with me? Not all the way, just to the digital field. You're still one of us and we could always use the support."

"I won't be in the way, will I?" Jeri asked, split between the desire to be part of the team and not wanting to be a burden. "I could…?"

"Come on, Jeri. It'll be fine. Henry and Rika will get the signal, not to mention Kazu, Kenta, and Suzie. They'll be so many of us and chances are it's something weak anyway, what's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

Across the city, another D-arc sounded and a yellow fox appeared out of the shadows. She stood beside a red-haired girl who was the owner of the device. The girl smiled slightly at her digimon partner.

"It's been awhile since anything's shown up, Renamon," she commented. "Nothing since Locomon."

"Rika, whatever is coming feels powerful," the yellow rookie informed her. "Very powerful."

The tamer glanced into the icy blue eyes of her partner, "Then we'll have to be stronger. Besides, we have the advantage of numbers. I'm sure Goggle-head is already on his way to play 'knight in shining armor' and save the day. But we'll be careful anyway."

Renamon nodded, trying to shake the uneasy sensation that this Bioemergence was unusual. The closest to this she could remember was when Pajiramon and Vajramon had arrived together. Were there two powerful digimon again? She had felt multiple digimon Bioemerge before, but they were weaker digimon. The two Devas had made real impression, and yet this still overshadowed them.

"What is it?" she wondered silently.

* * *

"Henry, slow down already," ordered the white and green rabbit. "I'm going to fall off."

The boy, sprinting down the street with his eye on the holographic compass, shook his head slightly, "There's a digimon appearing somewhere in the city and you said it felt strong."

"I could be wrong," suggested Terriermon. "It's probably a cocky rookie with something to prove. Just slow down, please."

Even in his hurry, the tamer grinned at the description, "You could have been talking about Impmon just now. Or yourself."

"Oh, ha ha ha, Henry," commented the digimon, rolling his eyes. "You're hilarious."

* * *

"Fire Tornado!" cried Magnadramon, shooting flames at the dark mega.

Dodging as best he could, though the edges of his wings felt singe with the heat, Beelzemon answered, "Corona Blaster!"

As he struck the vaccine, another voice announced, "Web Wrecker!" as several painful small explosions struck his back and wings. Diaboromon had fired from behind.

Screaming with surprise and pain, "Beelzemon lost concentration on flying and crashed to the ground. Pulling himself up, he studied his opponents again. While the battle hadn't been long yet, the exchange of attacks had been fast. Evidence of the fight decorated their forms, scratches and scrapes that weren't there before, but they didn't demonstrate it as clearly as his body did. His leather jacket was far beyond "vintage," all the way to "shredded beyond recognition." His black wings were clearly missing feathers and overall ruffled. Attacking three megas alone was going to be filed under "bad ideas," along with his solo battle against Indramon.

A green shape stepped up to him and calmly asked, "Where is she? Where is the traitor?"

Knowing that the idiots wouldn't listen anyway, Beelzemon still spat out, "You don't need to know that. She isn't to blame. Anything she did is my fault. So you three stooges should either deal just with me or go home. Darkness Claw!"

He lunged towards Boltmon, but the data type swung his ax, shouting "Tomahawk Crunch!"

The weapon caught him in the side, knocking him away and interrupting his attack. Beelzemon grunted as he slid across the ground, tearing grass and dirt up and leaving a trail by his body. He barely raised his head before another attack struck him.

"Cable Crusher!" hissed Diaboromon, slamming the mega back down.

As much as he didn't want to give the yellow-eyed virus the satisfaction, Beelzemon released a scream of pain. The creature's strike landed on his back and, more importantly in his mind, his wings. As the blue armored creature intended, something cracked with the impact. Gritting his teeth, the dark mega reached back to grab the long arm of Diaboromon and yanked him away.

"You will tell us where she is," Boltmon growled. "You are acting like a traitor by hiding her from us. We only came for one person, but if you continue to hinder us, we will consider you as great a traitor as she."

"I've been considered one before," Beelzemon snarled softly. "And you can't touch her. She's not to blame. And I won't let a bunch of losers like you walk all over me." With great effort, he raised his right arm again. "Corona Blaster!" He fired, landing a glancing blow against the virus. "Corona Blaster!" he repeated, this time knocking Boltmon back.

"Dragon Fire!" announced Magnadramon, calling down energy bolts from the sky to strike her target.

* * *

Two children ran through the crowd, one holding his D-arc out before him. Takato and Jeri were on their way to the fog they knew was waiting for them. Neither had much warning before two new shapes broke through the crowd to tackle them.

"Uh…" grunted the boy as he was knocked to the ground. "Guilmon? What…?"

"Jeri, Jeri, Jeri, Jeri, Jeri, Jeri," Calumon chanted, launching himself at the girl.

The brown-haired girl blinked in surprise at the digimon's upset tone, "What's wrong?"

"Bad, bad, bad, bad," mumbled the white creature, his face buried into her dress.

Guilmon pulled his tamer up, "Digimon. Three megas."

"… No way," breathed Takato. "But why did you come get me? I was going to meet you there."

"No, no, no, no, no," babbled Calumon. "Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad digimon. Hide, Jeri. Hide like hide-and-seek, but they won't play nice with you. They're big meanies and they…"

"Calm down," Takato instructed. "It's okay. We'll take care of it. You're never been this upset."

The red reptile pulled on his partner's arm, "Hurry up."

The boy stared at the pair, "What's up with you two? Neither one of you act like this about most Bioemerges."

Guilmon's yellow eyes met Takato's, his expression serious and anxious, "They want something. They told Beelzemon they were looking for something and he told us to go."

"Wait, Beelzemon's facing three megas alone?" asked Jeri.

"What are they after?" the boy questioned his friend. "Maybe if we give it to them, they'll be easier to handle."

Calumon shouted, "No!" and grabbed on tightly to the girl.

"No, we can't" replied the rookie, growling softly as he glanced back from where he came. "They can't have it."

"What do they want?" Jeri asked, repeating Takato's question.

Guilmon looked straight at her, "Beelzemon told us to make sure they can't get it. He was mad when he figured it out."

"It's not _what_ they want, is it?" breathed Takato softly, understanding dawning on the boy. "It's _who_. Who do they want?"

"Me," Jeri whispered, closing her eyes.

**Another chapter down. This is just a little piece to work on in my spare time, and I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. Thanks.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm back! I've been busy with school, tests, and junk along those lines. So, here is a new chapter. Hope you like it.**

Staggering out of the crater created by Magnadramon's assault, Impmon realized rather late that it might have been a bad idea to try to take on these guys. Correction, he already had known it was stupid, but what he regretted now was he had no real plan of attack. He had no escape plan except A) tell them what they wanted to know (Never going to happen), B) beat them all (not likely considering he was back at the rookie level again), C) die (not really a popular choice either), or D) hope that help arrived quickly (where _are_ those guys?) and they can beat these jokers. Since he couldn't really do anything about the "survival-instinct-screaming-at-his-insanity" situation while he hoped the tamers show up, he felt it was his duty to continue to uphold the tradition of insulting anyone he met.

"Pinky, you got to work on your aim," he grinned faintly, ignoring that he felt tired and pounded. "If you were trying to play mad scientist, the Frankenstein monster you're supposed to zap with lightning is over there." He gestured at Boltmon, wincing at the movement.

"Cable Crusher!" screamed Diaboromon, slamming the rookie in the chest with incredible force.

The purple digimon flew from the blow, crashing into one of the few trees in the digital field. He started coughing, the wind knocked out of him. The mega virus type was nearly insane with rage. The only reason that he hadn't completely been destroyed by the creepy crawly was because he wanted answers (or he had the twisted desire to pound the rookie into the dirt). Impmon glanced up to find Boltmon close to him again.

"Do not be a traitor to you own kind nor throw away your life needlessly for the sake of a dangerous human," he advised, shifting his grip on his ax. "Simply tell us how to find the girl. Where is she?"

Climbing unsteadily upright, glaring defiantly at the data type as best he could while trying to catch his breath. That smack to his chest really hurt. Rather than trying to answer yet again he had no intention of saying a word about Jeri's location, he decided it was time to get out of the line of fire. He could get out of sight, keep an eye on them, and wait for back-up. Even Goggle-head isn't stupid enough to think one rookie could beat three megas and would call a retreat against those odds.

"Bite me," he coughed before trying to make a run for it.

If he could get into a tree or anywhere out of sight, maybe they'd waste time trying to find him long enough for help to arrive. All he needed to do was get away. He stumbled as he ran.

"Tomahawk Crunch!"

Blinding pain erupted across his back as the data type struck. Before he could get over that, an unforgiving had grabbed his arm. Diaboromon shook him like a rag doll. That guy needed to calm down. His fury seemed terrifying up close.

"If you do not help, I'll end your existence," hissed the mega. "And it will not be a quick end."

Panting, Impmon tried to stare intimidatingly while dangling helplessly, "Not going… to happen, ugly. Badda Boom!"

The fireball struck the yellow-eyed creature in the face, but the long-limbed digimon didn't even flinch. He took hold of the rookie's free arm and studied it calmly. Then, he snapped in.

The agony from the action washed over Impmon so hard, he couldn't even scream. All he could do was gasp and struggle to remain awake. Because if he wasn't awake, there was no reason to keep him alive to answer their questions.

* * *

The digital field hung over the park, a warning to any who recognized it for what it was that creatures from another world hid within, and thus smart humans had vacated the area. The red-haired girl and dark-haired boy intersected just outside the foreboding fog.

"Glad you could join us," smirked Rika. "Ready?"

"Takato isn't here," Henry noted.

She shrugged, "I'm sure Goggles will be here any minute. Let's not just stand around waiting for the slowpoke."

"He's always late for school," remarked the rabbit digimon. "Why should this be any different?"

"Something powerful is waiting," Renamon summarized. "If we wait for the others, we risk whatever is inside escaping the digital field. But if we go inside now, we could be facing something we're unprepared for and could be out-powered on our own. Whatever we choose, there is a risk."

Rika glanced at the mist, "I say we go. Something tells me we need to hurry."

The yellow fox nodded, "You're right. We need to be in there now."

Terriermon exchanged a look with his partner as the girls ran inside the fog, "I don't think I like it when those two gets 'feelings,' Henry."

* * *

Pain coursed through his body in various degrees of agony. Stupid mega digimon and their stupid "revenge against the traitor" agenda. And stupid him for playing hero. It was a suicidal move and he was paying for it. Why did he decide to do it?

Boltmon glared into the rookie's emerald eyes, "Traitor, I'll ask once more. Where is she?"

Jeri. She was why. He hurt her so much and all he wanted was to protect her from more. He attacked these three for the same reason he sought to break into the Kernel Sphere of the D-reaper: to make amends and protect one little girl. He spawned all of the madness that came from one stupid agreement for power and now the consequences were still following all of them. He was doing this because he took away her partner and she needed a guardian in Leomon's place. Impmon wasn't ideal, but the mess was caused by him to begin with.

Taking a deep breath and wincing as he did, he gasped in response, "It's… my… it's my… my fault. She… she…"

Diaboromon smacked the small virus type, knocking the air out of his sore chest and his broken arm to jerk in an agonizing movement. The rookie let out a breathless groan. The mega leaned close.

"I swear," he hissed, "I'll see you punished for what you have done. And we will find her. We won't stop until we do."

He wanted to answer; he wanted to say something to those hate-filled eyes, but he couldn't. The rookie was too tired and too hurt to think of a comeback. He just closed his emerald eyes, wondering how things had gone so wrong.

Then, someone up there decided to take pity on him it seemed. An annoying, but highly welcomed voice came out of the fog.

"Henry, there are _three megas!_ I don't think us and Sakuyamon are quite enough to cover it," a certain rabbit digimon submitted.

Opening his eyes, the rookie could make out the shape of MegaGargomon approaching. From Diaboromon's expression, he saw it too. Boltmon glanced at the coming creatures. The tall, ax-wielding data stepped forward, both concealing the two viruses and gaining a better view of the giant mega.

"I know you. You and your friends combated the Chaos," he remarked.

"Yes, we fought the D-reaper," acknowledged Sakuyamon, joining the robotic dog. "That doesn't explain your presence here."

"Our fight is not with you," Magnadramon explained. "You are heroes that helped save both worlds. We came only to bring a traitor to justice."

Boltmon added, "You know the identity of this traitor. Surely heroes who have done so much would be willing to assist in our efforts."

"Something's not right here," muttered the golden fox-lady. "You're hiding something from us."

Impmon struggled to take a deep enough breath to be heard, "…Toots…" His words were barely a whisper, but Diaboromon tightened his grip on the rookie's good arm threateningly. As much as it hurt to breathe too deeply, he forced himself to try again, "… Fox-face."

Sakuyamon jerked at the weak-sounding voice, "Impmon?"

"How many people did you betray?" asked a stunned Terriermon from the giant mega, catching sight finally of the small purple being.

Diaboromon shook the limp creature demonstratively, producing a painful moan from the rookie, "This _thing_ is guilty of many crimes, including killing my hive. But he isn't who we came seeking. But he makes a worth addition."

"He is concealing the traitor's location, protecting one who aligned themselves with the ultimate enemy, and will be treated as a traitor as well if he continues," explained Boltmon in a calm voice.

"There was no reason for his suffering to occur," sighed Magnadramon sadly. "But he attacked first and is too stubborn. We would have preferred not to include him."

"Speak for yourself," growled the yellowed-eyed virus. "I shall enjoy his destruction."

"Put him down," Sakuyamon ordered.

"What traitor?" asked MegaGargomon. "Who are you looking for?"

Impmon wanted to tell them, explain they were after Jeri. But he just couldn't summon the strength. He could feel his body just dangling with pain pulsing through every inch. Maybe blacking out would be a better option than fighting to remain conscious.

"We're looking for _her_," Boltmon repeated. "The traitor to humans and digimon alike. And any who inhibits our mission is just as great a traitor."

"Fine, just put him down," urged the shaman mega.

"Maybe we can work something out," MegaGargomon suggested. "We just needed to be reasonable about this whole thing. Let Impmon go."

The purple rookie briefly wondered how he ended up in a hostage situation, let alone having hostage negotiations occur around him by a group of megas. Honestly, if he got out alive, he'd never hear the end of this. Not to mention the twins would never let him out of their sight again.

Chuckling, the virus mega shook his head, "Oh no, he's mine. I came to gain revenge, not just justice. These two," he pointed at Boltmon and Magnadramon, "want justice against the girl for crimes she committed. I'll be satisfied with revenge against him for the murder of my hive."

"Lightning Joust!"

Boltmon screamed as he was struck by the attack. Gallantmon stepped through the mist, and he looked ticked off. Diaboromon and the pink dragon stared at their fallen teammate.

The knight announced, "You are not welcome here. You will not hurt any of our friends anymore. Let go of Impmon and we will let you return to the digital world. You will not, however, try to destroy Jeri!"

**Behold! In case you didn't notice, it's caught up to where it was on the first chapter and now the cavalry has arrived. Hope you liked it and I'll try to add more when I can. It will likely be a little while though.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Time for a new update. I really felt a strong urge to work on my digimon stories lately (just not necessarily chronologically on my story "Fate." Let's just say, I have several scenes for later on already prepared in that one…) and decided to work on another chapter to "Traitor." And I predict that if you knew where I live, a small mob of people armed with pitchforks, torches, and Impmon toys would storm my door in fury of what I do here: a cliffhanger! (I'm evil…)**

**But to start off, I need to back-up to where Gallantmon arrives at the party. So here it is.**

"Jeri, you really shouldn't be coming," panted Takato, following his partner at high speed.

"You invited me," she reminded him, carrying Calumon in her arms as both he and the tamer tried to convince her not to come.

"That was before we knew that we'd be facing three megas intent on finding you and… I don't know what, but it won't be good. And you shouldn't go and deliver yourself to them on a silver platter," the brown-haired boy argued.

"No, no, no, Jeri," added the tiny white digimon in her arms. "No, no, no, no, no. Bad, bad, bad meanies want you. Don't go. Don't go. Don't go."

"I'm coming," she answered firmly. "If Beelzemon, you, and everyone is risking getting hurt to protect me, the least I can do is be there to support my friends."

But _why_ do they want Jeri?" Takato wondered aloud. "Why her?"

She had her suspicions of why those megas came for her, but she remained silent. No reason to worry them more. If Takato asked how she guessed who they were after, she'd just claim it was from how Guilmon kept looking at her. She might even be wrong about why. Still, she felt certain it dealt with the D-reaper somehow.

The ominous fog drew near. Guilmon paused outside, a feral growl emerging as he waited for his tamer. Takato gripped his D-arc tightly and glanced pleadingly at the girl.

"Please stay out here. I don't want to see you get hurt," he begged. Then, blushing strongly, he muttered, "I care about you too much."

Pretending not to hear that last part so he wouldn't be _too_ embarrassed, Jeri sighed, "Don't worry about me. I know where belong in this situation."

Nodding hopefully, the boy and his reptilian digimon vanished into the mist. Jeri waited a full thirty seconds before following at a slower, more cautious pace.

"I belong with my friends," she whispered softly, hugging Calumon close.

As she eased closer, she could make out the shapes of Gallantmon, Sakuyamon, and MegaGargomon. High above, a pink dragon with horns hovered. Back on the ground, a green, humanoid creature lay crumpled on the ground by someone's (likely Gallantmon's, by his pose) blow. Another, long-limbed being glared at the Biomerged megas. And though all three strange digimon bore signs of battle, Beelzemon was nowhere in sight.

"Did he run away from them?" she wondered softly, hoping that his absence wasn't from a more painful reason.

"Bad, bad, bad," whispered the former Catalyst. "Lots of ouchies."

Then she caught sight of the small, purple being dangling from one of the new digimon's grip. His appearance took her breath away in horror. Impmon looked like he'd been run over by a bus before being tossed off a cliff. And he was too quiet. He should be insulting someone or bragging that he had the situation under control. He was never this quiet.

"Calumon, go find Kenta and MarineAngemon," she instructed. "They, Kazu, and Guardromon should be together. Hurry."

As the white being glided out of the fog, all she could do was continue staring at the scene before her. She hoped that the pink mega, famous for his small, healing, pink bubbles, would help. And she hoped she didn't get spotted.

* * *

"Wait, they want _Jeri_?" Rika's voice screeched. "They think she helped the D-reaper on purpose?"

"Wait, _that's_ why they're after her? Over the D-reaper thing?" responded Takato's voice in surprise.

"That girl went to the Chaos willingly and gave it power," Magnadramon reminded them. "She betrayed both humans and digimon with her actions. All we want is justice."

"So, please stop defending the traitor," growled Boltmon, struggling to his feet. "Reveal her location to us. We'll even give you back your stubborn, impulsive friend if you cease acting as a traitor as well."

"No, we won't," hissed Diaboromon, drawing his limp prey closer to his body. "This creature killed my hive members. His fate is sealed."

The pink vaccine glared at the blue armored mega, "That was not part of our agreement. We came only to serve justice to one."

Within the knight, his two halves were in a frenzied discussion.

"We can't let them get Jeri, but we need to save Impmon too," Guilmon's voice moaned. "How do we do that, Takato?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "We can face Boltmon easily with the type advantage. And Magnadramon can be taken care of eventually, but we need to get Impmon away fast. But if we even get near Diaboromon, he'll…"

"He might anyway. He's really mad," the digimon added.

Takato, within his mental bubble, blanched, "Yeah. I'm afraid that, if we don't handle this right, we'll end up with… another loss. We need to be careful. Diaboromon is crazy."

"Just calm down," soothed Henry's voice. Apparently, he refused to allow Terriermon to speak to the strangers in case a careless comment would provoke them. "No one else needs to get hurt."

"If you kill him or Jeri," growled Sakuyamon, both halves of the golden shaman furious, "do you think we'll let you live? Give Impmon to us."

The yellowed-eye virus glanced around, studying his opponents and smiled cruelly. He held up the rookie.

"You want this pathetic, treacherous, waste of data?" the mega asked. "He isn't worth it. In all honesty," he declared venomously, "he's better off dead!"

The barely awake, purple creature flew through the air, hurled with extreme force by the vengeful Diaboromon. Before Gallantmon or any of the others could react, they came under fire.

"Web Wrecker!"

* * *

He tried to keep listening, especially for his or Jeri's name. He tried, but it was hard to focus on them. Impmon felt Diaboromon pull him closer. A smart-aleck remark about if the mega wanted a hug, he should ask would be perfect here, but he didn't have the energy to try. The pain across his body felt awful and draining.

Diaboromon started talking again. Great, the psycho really enjoyed the sound of his own voice. Especially when declaring the evil of Impmon.

Suddenly, the crazy mega threw him. Explosions immediately began, but he barely noticed as his body smashed into a tree. Though he'd believed he couldn't feel any worse, the impact pushed the limits on agony. The virus lost his feeble grasp on awareness as the new pain washed over his battered body, joining the earlier torture to his small form. The darkness swallowed him and promised an end to his suffering.

* * *

Jeri fought the urge to scream out Impmon's name as he was thrown like a baseball. The same long-limbed creature began firing on the others instantly. Gallantmon brought his shield up to block the shots. Sakuyamon hurtled herself at the yellow-eyed beast. The green being moved to block the fox-lady, but the knight swung the shield to meet the ax. The two largest digimon, both vaccines, began to grapple. It was as if blue-armored monster's actions were a signal to begin the struggle between them. But as concerning as the beginning brawl was, the girl felt drawn to the rookie.

A thick tree trunk halted his flight abruptly. The purple figure crashed with a sickening impact, crumpled to the ground, and remained a motionless pile. She couldn't stand it. The brown-haired girl crouched down and began a hurried half-crawl/half-run towards the limp shape. Coming closer, he looked even worse than at a distance.

The ex-tamer flinched as more gunfire exploded and screamed attacks rang out. Moving along the borders of a battlefield, especially one where at least three fighters wished to kill her, would not be considered an intelligent decision. Still, she couldn't just stand on the sidelines and leave a friend in danger when she could actually do something. She would get him out of sight and maybe they'd forget about him being here.

She crept around the tree, the only thing now separating her from her goal, and froze at the sight before her. All the scratches, his arm, and everything made him seem so… broken. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes to see such a spirited individual looking so lifeless. Gently, she pulled him into her arms. She glanced at the on-going fight to ensure she'd not been spotted before moving behind the tree.

Cradling him, she could tell that Impmon was truly in bad condition. His breaths were far too short, shallow, and labored. Though she must have moved his broken arm (she didn't think digimon possessed calcium-based bones, but they must have some kind of internal skeletal structure), he didn't even moan in the pain it must have caused. And even if his face was normally pale, it had taken on a more ashen tone. She didn't dare carry him farther like this.

"Oh Impmon…" she whispered. "What have they done to you?"

For a terrifying moment, she felt a buzzing sensation along her arms where she held him as his limp body _flickered_ dangerously before steadying into a solid form once more.

"No," gasped Jeri, her eyes widening and tears rolled down her cheeks. "Please, not this. You can't. You can't die."

His body responded to her pleas by threatening again to dissolve into data, the flickering lasting slightly longer. She pulled Impmon closer, hoping that it wouldn't be Leomon all over again.

**Cliffhanger! (Don't hate me…)**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am an evil individual, but I am not so evil to leave things in such a horrible cliffhanger for long. The next update may take a while. **

**Oh, and I've said it before in my other stories, but fight scenes are my weakness. So, please let me know what you think of them and the story in general.**

"Lightning Joust!"

Striking Diaboromon, the knight prepared for his next attack. Rather than trying to align by type advantage, they ended up going against their same type. This meant the giants of the groups fought in the fading fog, the green and pink shapes distracting in the background. Sakuyamon currently dealt with Boltmon.

"Cable Crusher!" screamed the furious Diaboromon, smashing the Biomerged figure.

The golden shaman announced, "Spirit Strike!"

The colorful fox-shapes swept along and struck not only the green-skinned data type, but also the blue-armored virus. Fury burned from the fox-lady.

"How _dare_ you come here, threatening and hurting our friends?" she snarled. "Impmon? Jeri? How _dare_ you?"

"Tomahawk Crunch!" shouted Boltmon, swinging his weapon downwards. Sakuyamon brought her staff up to meet the descending ax. "You only bring this on yourself."

Rather than use their wide-spread attacks, both Magnadramon and MegaGargomon depended on wrestling and close-quarter blows. And watching a giant mechanical dog struggle with the serpentine body of dragon twined around his body was truly an impressive sight.

"Shield of the Just!" Gallantmon called.

This assault knocked the long-limbed virus back. In this moment of relative calm, the Biomerged knight shot a look at where he knew that Impmon was flung. There was no small rookie lying there helplessly. Either the purple creature found the strength to crawl away or…

Gallantmon lost his chance to consider it further as Diaboromon leapt at him once more.

* * *

"Come on, Impmon, don't give up," Jeri whispered frantically as the small virus flickered again. "You have your friends, _your tamers_. Don't leave Ai and Mako alone. Please don't do this to them."

She clutched the red-gloved hand of his good arm. Kneeling behind a tree, with only that single piece of vegetation separating her from the megas wanting to kill her, she was reduced to trying to _talk_ a digimon into staying alive. She wasn't able to stop what happened to Leomon, she couldn't change what occurred between her and the D-reaper, and she couldn't help in the fight currently raging behind her. But she intended not to be useless. She needed to do _something_. So she kept hold of his hand and begged him to stay.

As his limp form flickered again, she squeezed his hand gently, "Don't do this. You're my friend. And you got hurt because of me. I don't want to lose someone else. Please hold on. MarineAngemon will be here soon. Just don't give up. You _never_ give up. Even when I was trapped inside the D-reaper, you didn't quit trying to save me. But you got hurt then too. All because of me…"

Another explosion shook behind them. She leaned over the broken figure, shielding him in case they caught sight of the purple creature. Her green dress and brown hair made slightly better camouflage. The rookie didn't respond to the continued battle or her movement.

"Don't go. Stay with us. You're our friend, even after all that's happened," she begged. "Don't give in. Fight it, Impmon, fight it. Listen to me and stay here with us, your friends and you tamers. Ai and Mako _love_ you and need you." She felt herself shaking with each frantic syllable. "It'll be alright. Just hang on a little longer. We don't want to lose you. Just hang in there."

Her words, whispered between slow tears and spoken with such strong hope, did little to slow the increasing episodes of flickering. Each one lasted longer than the one before as his overall stability weakened. As much as she wanted to deny it, he was getting worse. Soon, he would begin to dissolving for real if this continued.

* * *

He knew he was dreaming. Impmon could tell that right away. When else do you end up in some kind of gravity-free zone? He was floating in a vast emptiness. It was kind of a foggy grey that stretched in all directions: up, down, left, right, front, and back. Or at least, what felt like those directions. Without gravity, who could tell? All he knew was that he was lying on his back (sort of… the lack of gravity thing made it hard to know for sure) and he was alone. But there was something else in the emptiness with him. Two somethings, actually.

At one end, a bright and utterly familiar light glowed. The warmth of it seemed comforting, but it also hurt. Somehow, he knew that it would be painful to go there. That he would be in agony if he returned there (He'd been there? Is that where he came from before ending up in this weird place? He couldn't remember for sure…).

At the opposite end, a deep darkness waited. Everything about the blackness was opposite of the light. It was cool, endless, and calm. There seemed to be something soothing about it. The cold feeling eased away the pain the light caused and radiated peace, but he didn't think that he was supposed to go there. For all the serenity that it gave off, the darkness seemed to promise an end to everything: pain, suffering, struggle, worry, fear, sorrow, hardship, strife, adversity, and everything that made life hard to deal with. But without those things, as bad as they are, is life worth living? They made the world interesting in limited quantities, didn't they? The icy calm seemed too perfect. Did he want that timeless peace or would he rather deal with the agony that the light offered?

But the rookie felt too tired. All he wanted was to float there, unmoving. He didn't have the strength to try and move either way. Strangely, there was some kind of undertow in the emptiness, like a current in water. Slowly, Impmon found himself being drawn towards the soothing, numbing, cool darkness. And he didn't fight the gentle pull. The closer he came, the more the idea of just accepting the endless rest seemed not so bad. It was easier just to let everything go and just drift off.

* * *

"Shield of the Just!"

Boltmon crashed to the ground and stayed there this time. While the fight between megas never would be easy, Beelzemon did wear them down some first. And now the Biomerged digimon were making real progress. Sakuyamon swiftly swooped in on the green-skinned data type.

"Amethyst Mandala!" she cried, trapping the digimon in a ring of golden energy.

"Cable Crusher!" snarled Diaboromon, aiming for the armored shaman.

Gallantmon interrupted with his own cry of "Lightning Joust!"

Smiling her thanks at the knight, she asked quickly, "You doing okay, Goggles?"

"So far," he answered. "Just need to deal with the crazy creep."

"Glad you're worried about me," remarked Terriermon's voice sarcastically. "After all, I'm the one wrestling a _huge dragon_. Shouldn't be _that_ hard."

"Die!" screeched Diaboromon, tackling Gallantmon to the ground. "Die! You and your monstrous _friend_ deserve to die!"

The Biomerged mega held back the snarling creature. Apparently, the fury directed at Impmon had grown to include anyone close to the rookie. Also, the psycho virus seemed to be completely insane now. He clawed at the knight's face.

Gallantmon muttered, "Why did I get the scary one?"

"Web Wrecker!" screamed the long-limbed monster, firing at close range on the knight.

* * *

Jeri hugged the weak rookie close to her chest, crying softly as his body lost focus again. It hurt to see this happening. It reminded her of when she lost Leomon and, once more, she was powerless to stop it. She learned to live with the past, but she didn't want to repeat it.

She relaxed her grip slightly as he stabilized again. It wouldn't last long, she knew. The girl didn't know what to do. She wasn't even a real tamer anymore. She hadn't been since Beelzemon…

A tiny ray of hope, a small spark of an idea, appeared before her. The impossibility of it refused to register. If she tried to think it through, to realize how crazy it seemed to even consider this option, she'd lose her nerve. And since it was all that she knew to try, she needed to make the attempt.

"Leomon," she whispered softly. "I know you're in there. Inside Impmon. And I know you don't have any real reason to help him." She closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to keep watching the purple creature flicker again, but she could feel the buzzing. "But he's changed. He isn't the same heartless monster who killed you. Honest."

The girl jerked as another explosion went off on the other side of the tree. This one went off closer, but she forced herself back to her desperate plea.

"He's hurt because of me. And he's truly sorry for what he's done. He's my friend now," explained Jeri. "I want to help him, to save him. But I can't… I can't do anything for him. Just like I couldn't help you. I can't help anyone." She sobbed softly as the buzzing sensation on her arms meant Impmon flickered once again. That he was coming closer to dying. "But maybe, you can? Please, Leomon, if you can hear me inside him, please try and help save him. He doesn't deserve to die. I'll understand if… you can't help him. Some things can't be stopped or changed. But, can you please try?"

Inside her pocket, unheard and unseen, a static-filled screen briefly cleared and a soft beep escaped from the girl's D-arc.

* * *

As he drifted towards the cool darkness, something abruptly halted his progress. Impmon briefly wondered what happened. It felt like a pair of strong arms suddenly took him carefully out of the current. Something or someone now supported him against a muscular chest, like how the twins' parents would rock his tamers after a nightmare. Rather than complain about this sort of treatment, the virus found it somehow comforting and safe. He wearily opened his emerald eyes.

The figure seemed hard to make out through the foggy grayness of the area and he'd floated so near the darkness, it hid most details anyway. The unknown someone held him facing the now-distant light, and the rays that reached even this far stung his tired eyes. The features of the figure were too hard to make out. It seemed familiar to the purple creature though.

"Who…?" he whispered even as his eyelids tried to close once more.

A deep, still-familiar voice soothed, "Rest, small one. You will slip no farther away."

"Why…?" the rookie asked, struggling to see the figure. Was that a mane…? He couldn't tell. "I… don't..."

"A mutual friend wanted it. She asked me to help you if I could. She told how you tried to protect her," explained the voice. "I can no longer do that, but I _can_ do this much for her. I can keep you from drifting farther away as long as you are not harmed anymore."

Impmon closed his eyes. He didn't feel like deciphering the mystery of who he was speaking to or what was happening. He could still feel the tug of the current around him, but the strong arms held him fast. The small purple creature wondered if it was possible to fall asleep in an apparent dream. Still, he was too tired to care. Sleep claimed him.

Leomon glanced down at the resting figure in his arms; his onetime murder and traitor to the children he now fought beside. The leonine digimon knew that Impmon was no longer the same digmon who once killed him. He was far less selfish and more caring. He had his own partners and still felt the desire to guard Jeri as well. The virus really made use of his second chance.

"I've done what I can for him, Jeri," he whispered. "I've saved his spirit from being lost. Now you need to take care of his physical body."

**Let me know what you think so far. I'll try to update soon as I can.**


End file.
